President's message to peace vigil: Brandeis mourns French victims

In a statement read by Father Walter Cuenin at the weekly peace vigil last Friday, President Fred Lawrence said the Brandeis community joins with mourners the world over to express horror at the murder of three children and a rabbi at the Ozar Hatorah School and the related murders of three soldiers in Toulouse, France.

“This community of caring — the Brandeis family — offers our profound sympathy to their families. Their suffering is almost unimaginable, their loss so enormous,” Lawrence said. “Bias-motivated violence such as this… is aimed not only at the direct victims, but also at all members of the targeted community.

“In condemning these atrocities, we must re-commit ourselves to the task of repairing a world in which such acts can occur. Today, let us do that,” Lawrence concluded.

The Brandeis Interfaith Chaplaincy, which Father Cuenin coordinates, holds a weekly vigil at the Peace Circle between Usdan Student Center and Faber Library. The 20-minute vigils provide a time for remembrance of the past, mindfulness of the present and hope for the future. They begin with a moment of silence, proceed to thought sharing and end with song.